Black Widow (Story Discussion)

[Headstall]

Off base as in maybe it's not Evil Queen ED in the first place. This is just too sloppy. Too many innocents in the line of fire.

 

Hammer got targeted big time by multiple parties and was sent away. No innocents involved (except the tribe in Africa).

 

THIS operation just pissed off everyone in every direction and enables people like JJ to do something on his own, potentially messing up the Master Plan (even if there was one).

 

Coincidence that Matt/Wade just happen to be in Kenya while JP/Stef was only a couple thousand miles offshore on an island?

 

Coincidence that Zach was being blackmailed? That JJ is sort of out of the picture because of the paparazzi ?

 

Coincidence that Brad was in China with his boytoy? (Okay iOS, why did you try to autocorrect boytoy to bottom? What are you trying to say?)

 

Maybe it was all a coincidence and this family was just entitled to a string of bad luck for once.

The thing that convinced me that it was ED was how certain Wade was... but he could be wrong... it's possible that even ED is being played... but until otherwise, I'm going on the assumption it's ED behind whatever this is... just saying

[impunity]

I'm not sure how Wade and Matt could have been manipulated into going to Kenya when they did.

 

JP's invitation to speak in St. Helena could certainly have been engineered, as could Marc's show in China.

[imgoingslightlymad]

mmike1969, on 17 Aug 2015 - 01:03 AM, said:

Off base as in maybe it's not Evil Queen ED in the first place. This is just too sloppy. Too many innocents in the line of fire.

Hammer got targeted big time by multiple parties and was sent away. No innocents involved (except the tribe in Africa).

THIS operation just pissed off everyone in every direction and enables people like JJ to do something on his own, potentially messing up the Master Plan (even if there was one).

Coincidence that Matt/Wade just happen to be in Kenya while JP/Stef was only a couple thousand miles offshore on an island?

Coincidence that Zach was being blackmailed? That JJ is sort of out of the picture because of the paparazzi ?

Coincidence that Brad was in China with his boytoy? (Okay iOS, why did you try to autocorrect boytoy to bottom? What are you trying to say?)

Maybe it was all a coincidence and this family was just entitled to a string of bad luck for once.

 

To be fair, this is fiction, and in most fiction coincidence is as unlikely as it is likely in nonfiction.

 

ED might have changed her MO, I read an article about Donald Trump's PR man being known in the business as the 'bomb thrower', so perhaps she's just adopting that strategy ahead of her time, apparently doing loads of damage, and then just raking what she wants from the ashes.

[Headstall]

I'm not sure how Wade and Matt could have been manipulated into going to Kenya when they did.

 

JP's invitation to speak in St. Helena could certainly have been engineered, as could Marc's show in China.

Wade agreed to go because Hammer asked him to... he was doing so well there and he was very thankful to Wade for turning his life around... Wade felt obligated after what he had done to him. The thing is, it was ED who handled the whole Hammer affair, so my guess is she maintained a control of some sort over Hammer, so she could utilize him when she needed. Matt, of course would go along with Wade. IMO.

[impunity]

Wade agreed to go because Hammer asked him to... he was doing so well there and he was very thankful to Wade for turning his life around... Wade felt obligated after what he had done to him. The thing is, it was ED who handled the whole Hammer affair, so my guess is she maintained a control of some sort over Hammer, so she could utilize him when she needed. Matt, of course would go along with Wade. IMO.

I agree that she could have gotten him there. Just not sure she could have controlled when he went.

[Headstall]

I agree that she could have gotten him there. Just not sure she could have controlled when he went.

I think the timing had to do with ME's son's baptism in England... two birds with one stone... just a guess, but that's when they went on to Kenya...

[impunity]

I think the timing had to do with ME's son's baptism in England... two birds with one stone... just a guess, but that's when they went on to Kenya...

It seems a bit hit-or-miss, though, especially if it needed to be coordinated with JP's and Marc's events. Academic lectures and art shows are typically scheduled pretty far in advance.

[Headstall]

It seems a bit hit-or-miss, though, especially if it needed to be coordinated with JP's and Marc's events. Academic lectures and art shows are typically scheduled pretty far in advance.

Yeah, that's true.

[Timothy M.]

It seems a bit hit-or-miss, though, especially if it needed to be coordinated with JP's and Marc's events. Academic lectures and art shows are typically scheduled pretty far in advance.

 

The art show could have ben scheduled far ahead, but Marc's invitation might have been timed.

[impunity]

The art show could have been scheduled far ahead, but Marc's invitation might have been timed.

I actually think Marc's show would be the hardest to arrange at short notice. His pieces are large and heavy and take a fair amount of time to make. He would need several months' notice to make sure he had enough on hand for a show and to ship them to China.

 

JP's invitation could have been more last-minute, although the conference dates would likely have been set a year or two in advance. For example, he could be filling in for another speaker who met with a nasty accident.

 

Wade set his own travel schedule, although it is timed to work with the wedding, the baptism, and his summer break from law school.

 

I don't think the timing of Darius's ROTC cruise could have been messed with.

Edited August 17, 2015 by impunity

[Daddydavek]

This book is set in June 2003 and I was wondering why no has commented on being surprised that Wade had not got a satellite phone for their safari.  They were available at the time and were certainly not outside his budget.....

[Northerner]

I think the story is sticking to facts and how things were, if you're looking close at the phone issue.

 

Iridium filed for chapter 11 during the fall of 1999. The business got relaunched, but it is a very niche thing. There are a few reasons why there's no big number of subscribers using sat phones from them, or Inmarsat et al. If I ran a safari operation back then, it might have been tempting to spring for a sat phone. However, even for wealthy private citizens, these technologies weren't even on the horizon unless you sailed across oceans, or climbed Himalaya. There was no gear hype involved. Sat phones were and are relegated to really remote places like Antarctica, the Artic and unpopulated areas of the world.

 

These days most of Africa, and most other populated places in the world are serviced by 3G networks with GSM 2G networks as a fall-back. Even 4G LTE Advanced services are being introduced in what might be considered typical 3rd-world countries. Huge parts of Asia, Africa and South America have totally leapfrogged wired phone service.

 

GSM came to South Africa in 1994, so by the early 2000's it was pretty much in use all over the continent. It's a surprising success story in the world of technology. Since long, you've been able to use a GSM phone all over the world. With later networking standards harmonization, plus the advent of cross-network texting the US which was lagging the rest of the mobile/cell world back then - as well as using weird proprietary cell phone standards, these devices are now truly global. Your average 3G/4G WCDMA/LTE smartphone won't care if you're in Stockholm, Addis Abeba, Brisbane, Osaka, Busan, Chengdu, Vladivistok, Munich, Oahu, Cape Town, Dubai or even St Louis 

Edited August 17, 2015 by Northerner

[Headstall]

Mark must really be enjoying all this conjecture and speculation

[Timothy M.]

Mark must really be enjoying all this conjecture and speculation

 

That's a much nicer (and more correct) way of saying it.

[Daddydavek]

I think the story is sticking to facts and how things were, if you're looking close at the phone issue.

 

Iridium filed for chapter 11 during the fall of 1999. The business got relaunched, but it is a very niche thing. There are a few reasons why there's no big number of subscribers using sat phones from them, or Inmarsat et al. If I ran a safari operation back then, it might have been tempting to spring for a sat phone. However, even for wealthy private citizens, these technologies weren't even on the horizon unless you sailed across oceans, or climbed Himalaya. There was no gear hype involved. Sat phones were and are relegated to really remote places like Antarctica, the Artic and unpopulated areas of the world.

 

These days most of Africa, and most other populated places in the world are serviced by 3G networks with GSM 2G networks as a fall-back. Even 4G LTE Advanced services are being introduced in what might be considered typical 3rd-world countries. Huge parts of Asia, Africa and South America have totally leapfrogged wired phone service.

 

GSM came to South Africa in 1994, so by the early 2000's it was pretty much in use all over the continent. It's a surprising success story in the world of technology. Since long, you've been able to use a GSM phone all over the world. With later networking standards harmonization, plus the advent of cross-network texting the US which was lagging the rest of the mobile/cell world back then - as well as using weird proprietary cell phone standards, these devices are now truly global. Your average 3G/4G WCDMA/LTE smartphone won't care if you're in Stockholm, Addis Abeba, Brisbane, Osaka, Busan, Chengdu, Vladivistok, Munich, Oahu, Cape Town, Dubai or even St Louis 

 

The TV networks were using them in their remote coverage from around the world at that time...and said so in their broadcasts....

[Northerner]

The TV networks were using them in their remote coverage from around the world at that time...and said so in their broadcasts....

 

 

Still happens ocasionally, but that font of PR money has ran out. Since the inception of Iridium, technology moved quickly way beyond very expensive satellite phone calls. That is, provided cellular service is up and running. Sat phones make a nice back-up if there's a disaster.

 

 

It can be argued that services like Iridium were doomed from the start. Ubiquitous GSM made it stillborn as a mass product, but North America took a little longer to get with the program in that partcular case.

 

Anyways, I just want another new chapter. Meanwhile, there's lots of stuff to read, but I'm addicted.

[Grienne]

I'm totally up for jumping on the speculation band wagon. I've gone on complete speculation safari here, just properly warning everyone. 

 

On the drug test, I think in the CAP-verse, arranging a drug test is well within ED's capabilities. If she can get Hammer on the no-fly list, arrange for him to be set up and investigated for child pornography and then in short order get him into the peace corp with a posting ready and be able to stop it all once multiple law enforcement agencies were involved... then I can't imagine getting someone to schedule UCLAs drug tests within a certain date range would be a problem (on that note, arranging the dates of Darius's cruise wouldn't be all that hard for anyone with a strong DC power base, the right Admiral, maybe lower, in their pocket and I would think it would be simple, including Brad's brother). However I'm not sure arranging the test would be required - depending on the time frame, it may not be a consequence of Zach's defection at all, but something that was always suppose to happen. So long as Zach is drinking that crap then sooner or later (I would imagine at least once a season, though I'm not sure) there would be pretty inscrutable evidence linking Zach to that drug. If some plot or frame-up would be more believable if Zach had access to a pretty specific drug, then having the drug test does its work completely outside the world of football. I agree its hard to figure how Zach playing football could really matter one way or the other. However, Julius having access to everything of Zach's, knowing where he is at all times, combined with isolating him from Will and the others, makes Zach pretty vulnerable. He may not have more to do with it beyond having that first bit of blackmail, that he's gay, made him convenient.

 

There are, however, other possible issues at or around the LA area - for which having a fall guy in place may be useful. If someone found out that Jeff is Lark's kid, and they can't find Lark, Jeff may be used to lure him out, Kevin was related to this mess and he wasn't around two chapters ago, though its hard to imagine he'd have anything to do with a nefarious plot, but I suppose if its known that he helped Brad out he could be a target. 

 

ED was the one that provided the evidence of ABCs treason, so she could easily have the older of Brad's half brothers under her thumb - though I think there is a limit to what he'd do for his career.

 

The younger brother had some sort of nervous break and hasn't been seen since, so he could be up to god knows what. Now that I think about it, he was connected to Brian, Lark and Kevin, and he lost a lot with the companies and his mother. The west coast cluster could serve his psychosis quite nicely. 

Edited August 17, 2015 by Grienne

[Headstall]

I'm totally up for jumping on the speculation band wagon. I've gone on complete speculation safari here, just properly warning everyone. 

 

On the drug test, I think in the CAP-verse, arranging a drug test is well within ED's capabilities. If she can get Hammer on the no-fly list, arrange for him to be set up and investigated for child pornography and then in short order get him into the peace corp with a posting ready and be able to stop it all once multiple law enforcement agencies were involved... then I can't imagine getting someone to schedule UCLAs drug tests within a certain date range would be a problem (on that note, arranging the dates of Darius's cruise wouldn't be all that hard for anyone with a strong DC power base, the right Admiral, maybe lower, in their pocket and I would think it would be simple, including Brad's brother). However I'm not sure arranging the test would be required - depending on the time frame, it may not be a consequence of Zach's defection at all, but something that was always suppose to happen. So long as Zach is drinking that crap then sooner or later (I would imagine at least once a season, though I'm not sure) there would be pretty inscrutable evidence linking Zach to that drug. If some plot or frame-up would be more believable if Zach had access to a pretty specific drug, then having the drug test does its work completely outside the world of football. I agree its hard to figure how Zach playing football could really matter one way or the other. However, Julius having access to everything of Zach's, knowing where he is at all times, combined with isolating him from Will and the others, makes Zach pretty vulnerable. He may not have more to do with it beyond having that first bit of blackmail, that he's gay, made him convenient.

 

There are, however, other possible issues at or around the LA area - for which having a fall guy in place may be useful. If someone found out that Jeff is Lark's kid, and they can't find Lark, Jeff may be used to lure him out, Kevin was related to this mess and he wasn't around two chapters ago, though its hard to imagine he'd have anything to do with a nefarious plot, but I suppose if its known that he helped Brad out he could be a target. 

 

ED was the one that provided the evidence of ABCs treason, so she could easily have the older of Brad's half brothers under her thumb - though I think there is a limit to what he'd do for his career.

 

The younger brother had some sort of nervous break and hasn't been seen since, so he could be up to god knows what. Now that I think about it, he was connected to Brian, Lark and Kevin, and he lost a lot with the companies and his mother. The west coast cluster could serve his psychosis quite nicely. 

Whoa... I'm very impressed with your CAP knowledge and your capacity to speculate... well done!!

[Timothy M.]

2 more likes and Mark will be at 22222 rep points

 

sorry about the  post.

[impunity]

2 more likes and Mark will be at 22222 rep points

 

sorry about the post.

I don't know. Does anyone really like Mark?

 

Also, that is an incredibly transient statistic.

[Mark Arbour]

Mark must really be enjoying all this conjecture and speculation

 

You have no ideal

[Timothy M.]

I don't know. Does anyone really like Mark?

 

Also, that is an incredibly transient statistic.

 

but at least he was here to see it

 

or perhaps not... since it's already at 22223

Edited August 18, 2015 by Timothy M.

[impunity]

but at least he was here to see it

 

or perhaps not... since it's already at 22223

Sorry, one of this was my fault.

[Headstall]

When Mark replies to reviews, a new chapter often follows, so is he being a tease, or should we be getting excited? Don't toy with us, Mark... anymore than you already do . Oh, yeah...PLEEEEZE!!

[impunity]

When Mark replies to reviews, a new chapter often follows, so is he being a tease, or should we be getting excited? Don't toy with us, Mark... anymore than you already do . Oh, yeah...PLEEEEZE!!

I was all optimistic until Mark's response to my comment said "within a day or two, at least."

Edited August 18, 2015 by impunity